Warlock builds
Warlock talent builds are many and varied. Each tree is worth spec'ing up to 51 points in, and many builds invest more than 51 points in their primary tree. Regardless of which path a player eventually chooses, it is sure to be littered with many tough choices. ;See also: * Warlock Builds pre-TBC Leveling to 80 Affliction or Demonology are generally considered the trees to use for leveling, due to the extra downtime spent eating and drinking required by Destruction warlocks. Demonology contains many talents to increase survivability, but has few talents to increase damage until level 40, meaning that leveling will likely be slower than an affliction warlock. An Affliction warlock applies DoTs to the target and then uses Drain Life to deal extra damage while gaining health. This health can then be converted to mana via Life Tap. Improved Drain Soul gives additional mana back when killing a target while draining its soul. With practice an affliction warlock can grind through many mobs without having to stop to eat or drink. At level 40 Dark Pact becomes available, allowing you to use a (talented) Felhunter or Imp on passive and use their impressive mana regeneration to supplement or replace life tapping, even further reducing downtime. Full Demonology builds only start to show comparable benefits around level 40 when Demonic Knowledge and Demonic Empowerment become available. At level 50 the warlock can respec to receive their Felguard, at which point a Demonology warlock will get a considerable boost to their damage. Destruction builds will kill enemies quickly at the expense of having to eat and drink a lot between fights. This may be of more value to you if you plan to do a lot of Instances. Some players like to spend 11 points in Destruction to obtain Shadowburn while spending most of their points in their other tree (usually Demonology, as Affliction has several other sources of damage, making this less useful). A more comprehensive guide to leveling, including talent selection, can be found under Leveling a warlock. Affliction Builds The DoTs Curse of Agony and Corruption are some of the most mana-effective spells available for the Warlock. That is, the amount of damage per mana is higher compared to Direct Damage spells like Shadow Bolt. The Affliction talent tree can improve on these even more. There are problems using DoTs in parties and raids. There is a risk that the mob is killed before the completion of a DoT. This is especially bad for Curse of Agony, that causes more of its damage near the end of its duration. If this happens, then mana and time will be wasted. Curse of Elements is often used instead to avoid this problem for Curse of Agony, though it still applies for other dots. An easily adaptable build to any Affliction Warlock's preferred playstyle. Eradication can be gotten easily by trading it for Malediction, and your Improved Curse/Exhaustion can be taken with the points from Improved Felhunter. Your damage with this build (or variants of it) will be quite good, but your spell rotation can be pretty frantic at times. There's not much time for Shadow Bolt spamming, so I put those 15 points into Destro for Bane, Imp. SB, and Ruin to make the Bolting worth your while. A flexible PvP build that combines strong DoTs with Dark Pact for mana and Soul Link and Nether Protection for survivability. With the Felhunter Master Demonologist buff nerfed, Nether Protection (now applying to all schools) provides protection from casters. Once the enemy is dotted and feared, watch Molten Core proc and finish with a few Searing Pain crits. Demonology Builds The Demonology talent tree and the use of summoned demons are what mainly distinguishes a Warlock from a Mage. With patch 3.0.2, Demonology became a far more viable building for PvE and PvP. Though, it will still not top the damage meters in a group of even geared players, you most likely will not be the bottom anymore. With the new talents added we are also able buff fellow casting allies the same way a Hunter buffs Melee based allies. In 2v2 Demonology is far more viable as well. With the addition of Metamorphasis and the spells that come with it, you are a force to be reckoned with. Destruction Builds An interesting thing has happened since 3.0.2 came out. We 'locks are no longer tied to a specific school of magic. While this can be perceived as a boon to our kind due to the endless possibilities, it can also be considered a bit of a hinderance. We've become so much more complex, especially when it comes to the Destruction tree. No longer do I simply sac my Succubus, throw out a CoA and spam SB's until everything around me falls into a pile of steaming flesh. There's more to the Destructo-lock than before. Now that Spell-power is the way of the world, our gear no longer relegates us to being either a "shadow 'lock" or a "fire 'lock". Category:Guides Category:Warlocks Category:Talents